It is not fiction or an unfounded criticism of the transport officials of the Local Organizing Committee; it is a complaint that is being felt more and more each day. In fact, at the morning meetings of the Heads of Mission of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) with the authorities of the Olympic Village, they have been direct and increasingly impatient at these Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
[Kim Yeji, the shooter (poser) of Paris 2024 that the world is obsessed with]
Let’s get to the root of the problem. The hosts are obligated to provide internal transport for all athletes, coaches, medical teams, and those duly accredited within the Village. Moreover, they must ensure transportation to training sessions and competitions in an expedited manner that meets the standards for such global events. This explicitly includes the use of air conditioning and a passenger capacity that does not exceed the number of seats available on each bus. These requirements were laid out to the Local Organizing Committee a long time ago, with transportation and catering being the two most complex items of the entire operation of the games.
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To clarify and substantiate the hundreds of “assistance” requests made by the athletes themselves, which escalate daily to higher decision-making levels, remain unaddressed. One athlete commented that she arrived literally dehydrated at the Olympic Village after a tedious, exhausting, and suffocating return trip following a long competition day. She stated, “The treatment we receive is inhumane. We can’t have air conditioning, and when we ask, they tell us it’s a decision by their superiors, always leaving us with a sense of neglect and abandonment.” Another elite competitor was more severe in his analysis: “The truth is, we matter very little to the sports authorities in general, both local and international. We are not the center of the universe during these 15 days of competition because if we were, no one would allow us to be crammed like in rural transportation where anything goes.”
SPONSORS, NOCs AND LUXURY CARS
To extrapolate these examples, one cannot ignore what happens with the transport for the Olympic Family, the National Olympic Committees, guests, or sponsors of all the institutions involved in this major event. All of them travel in luxury cars provided by the organizers, equipped with air conditioning and a driver who drops them off at the sports venue and then patiently waits for a call to take them to another location, and so on.
These two realities, these two opposing worlds, coexist daily without realizing that the true actors and protagonists of the Olympic Games are the athletes. The public comes for them, wants to meet them, and recognize them for their achievements, successes, and failures. The long lines of spectators are further evidence that the athletes are the true protagonists and idols. In that role, they urge the transport experts to address their demands and not let the days pass as if it were something trivial and insignificant.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games officially end on August 11, and every day athletes fly home while others arrive with the hope of having the best experience here in Paris. However, they do not imagine that the contrasts are notable, palpable, and visible. One can only hope and trust that at some point, international sports authorities will signal fairness between officials and athletes, and in concluding this statement, that athletes will indeed be respected and valued accordingly. Hopefully, the vast differences between the two groups will diminish over time, and hopefully, air conditioning, a basic issue, will not be the subject of a SportsIn editorial. Hopefully, athletes will not be crammed into a bus and their space and time will be respected and valued as the true protagonists of the Olympic Games.
